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I guess the challenge for QRoss haters would be, which player in the league would have changed Hamilton's box score? The answer, of course, is none. He had 23. That's very slightly above his average. What was down was his FGA (down 25%) and FTA (down 50%). This means that Q (or whoever else was guarding him) was able to discourage the Pistons from even passing it to him, which is about all you can hope to do versus their scheme.

It blows my mind that anyone watching that game would think Q first was the problem.

As for Dunleavy, I don't know. I mean he can only get the players open looks, he can't put them in himself. The Clippers were getting wide open looks. They were just laying bricks.

The Pistons beat the Clippers. I don't know if a scapegoat is needed.

I will say the refs didn't have a great game though. It wasn't the difference, but it didn't help.

Dunleavy sucks. How else could you explain the first 4 plays of the second half being turnovers, including the first play out of a halftime pep talk and the Clippers can't even get off a shot? He has no ability to draw up plays.

Sure, the Clippers are showing a lack of heart and a lack of determination this season, but I do blame the coach because that is something he is responisible for. He can't get his team to focus, and it is his team. I hate him. I was glad for a moment when he got both technical fouls and got ejected. Of course, without him, the Clippers continued their terrible offensive skills and only had 3 points the first 8 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Who the hell does that game in and game out?

There was also a span in the second quarter they went 5 plus minutes without scoring. They do this a lot. There is no consistency. We are lucky to be in the 8th spot. I don't know what else to complain about but this season sucks. Elton is doing no good lately and he looks frustrated. Kaman is terrible, and his 5 years 52 million doesn't even start until next year.

Why did we let go of Will Conroy? This new guy Jason Hart may be better than Ewing (he was decent at best today), but at least with Conroy we had our best defensive game EVER!

John R, you're an idiot. Ross was guarding Hamilton in the 1st quarter when he went 7-7, after that Q "zero offense" Ross hardly saw the floor. It was Dunceleavy's insistence to spend 2/3 of the season starting this inept player over Maggette that was the major reason this season tanked.

Read Dunleavy's quote after the game:

Our bigs around the basket were hesitant and they gave the defense time to get to them," Los Angeles coach Mike Dunleavy said. "They didn't recognize when they had a chance to score, and they got stripped a lot. I'm really disappointed in our toughness right now -- mental and physical."

He is constantly criticizing the players, they must hate him...how about it was a duncehead move on my part to start Ross over Mobley today...or obviously as you have seen in the past 2-3 weeks, Maggette brings much more to the team than Q, not sure what I was thinking for 4 months.

Here's the bottom line Clipper fans..we're only above NBA average at 1 position, Power forward, which means we are mediocre, which is what 28-33 is.

Based on the fact that you didn't address my question, I can only conclude you didn't actually see the game. I'm right, right?

If they are running Rip off two and three screens, which they were, it doesn't matter who is guarding him. He is going to have 15-17 foot jumpers available to him if he is quick on the trigger. You failed to address the fact that he was successful at denying him the ball as well. I can only assume this is a level of nuance that escapes you.

I can continue to shred you publicly and personally for all to see like this, or you can be a civil person. I don't have a preference.

If it doesn't matter who was guarding Rip, then Dunleavy shouldn't have had the offensively challenged Q Ross in the game at all. I don't think that the Pistons' offensive scheme is a secret. Surely you agree with that point, right John R?

In addition, denying the ball is only a part of the equation. As you can see, they also have to stop him when he got the ball, which, as was pointed out, Q simply was unable to do.

Would you agree that they should have started Maggette over Q Ross all season? I'm sure your response will be interesting.

Inspite of all those mounting hurdles, we are sitting pretty on #8th spot!
Golden State is losing big to Portland. Denver kicked Kings to the ground. Lakers are making Clips look good by playing like old Clipper team against Dallas.

John R. You may not be an idiot, but your comment is idiotic and your follow-up more so. Ross played for a mere 17 minutes, so you cannot attribute Rip getting fewer shots to Ross. In fact, if Lonnie is right about Rip being 7/7 during those 17 minutes, then that means Rip was on pace to exceed his avg shots/game by far during time Ross was guarding him. Given these facts, your only possible defense of Ross is small sample size, Rip was hot. The ONLY hope for this team is to ride Maggette who is the other above average player. The only virtue of Dunleavy's idiocy is that Maggette should have fresh legs for the stretch.

Dave, we are not fighting, we are trying to figure out what's wrong with the Clippers. People have different opinions on that, but the fact that we are arguing about this means that we care. It is the opinion of many of us that Dunleavy's decision to play Q Ross over Maggette was a mistake. And of course Dunleavy was lobbying hard to coach his son here. What a fiasco that would have been.

I'm not an insider, so don't know why the Clippers are not playing better. Should they have known Kaman wouldn't play better this year? Debatable. What about Livingston's failure to emerge? Less debatable in my view, but still debatable (I say they should have known, others disagree).

One thing that's not debatable, however, is the lame decision to keep proven a 20 ppg scorer on the bench for months knowing that the PG experiment wasn't working out, that Kaman was floundering, that Brand was playing below expectations, that Cassell was hurt, etc., because of some misguided notion that we need a defensive specialist on the court for thirty minutes a game in these circumstances.

(It is also my opinion that we should have traded Livingston for AI (you might have heard of him, he's going to be a hall of famer some day), but that's another story.)

The teams below us are not utter crap. Because of playoff aspirations they are all beating each other up and Clippers are running for cover. We are still there & by half of remaining games we can move up to 7th or even 6th spot.

IF Brand continues to struggle, then we better forget about this season. A.Williams, Singleton and Paul Davis combined can be more effective than BRAND right now.

Jax and Duleevy thanks for the defense..John R. you are still an idiot...denying Hamilton the ball? He went 7-7 in the first quarter when Q. was in the game, even if he was a superior defensive player his absolute lack of offense is still a detriment, especially when it comes at the expense of a legit 20 ppg. player. As others have pointed out CM is the only player besides EB on the team with above avg. skills right now. As for Q. starting last season during the good run, two points. A) After the 14-5 start when CM was the starter, they went 33-30 an average team the rest of the way, most of that with QR stsrting. Coincedence, possibly, B) Last season Cassell and Kaman were playing at above avg. NBA standards and Brand was playing at close to an MVP level, none of those 3 are occurring right now. So any coach would see that the obvious move months ago would have been to insert Corey into the lineup, which he now has done too late. And btw, why absolutely no public comment from Coach idiot on that change, probably afraid to take the heat as to why he didn't do it in December.

If you're a defender chasing around a shooting guard, it's exceedingly difficult to get past a Tim Thomas screen. With Phoenix in the postseason, we saw how seemingly every possession for the Suns started with a Thomas high S/R, followed by either a fade or a dive/drag toward the basket. It's more effective in a frenetic offense, but the Clips don't use him enough [or he doesn't take enough initiative...who knows anymore?] on the strong side. Instead, the Clippers rely on this popular [and increasingly antiquated] notion that somehow, if Thomas stands out on the arc, he'll effectively "spread the floor," as if his defender can't sag if Cassell has dribbled to the far left corner -- where he traditionally likes to back down his defender --- or even if Elton has the ball in the low post against a much larger defender over whom he can't zip a pass out to the far side perimeter.

04/12/08 01:49:05

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